Thursday, January 05, 2006

I have just been thinking (as in since this morning) what is the gospel? I know what a lot of people think it is that we are all sinners and that Christ came to save us from eternal damnation. But this isn't holding water with me right at the moment.

From what little that I remember of Bridal at the moment the book of Mark starts with the words the gospel of Jesus Christ and then Christ doesn't go off saying 'you are all wicked there is no hope' rather I recall him spending more time on talking about the kingdom of God.

I am aiming to pick up my bible with this in mind. Hmmm...

posted by Jared at Thursday, January 05, 2006

1 Comments:

Blogger Andrew said...

I have been thinking about that too recently (but not just this morning :p ). The most obvious biblical options:
1) The 4 "gospels" are a story of the life of Jesus.
2) In Paul's usage however he designates "my gospel" (Rom 2) over and against "another gospel" (Gal 1) as referring to gaining God's praise by good works rather than by Torah works. He also summarises his message as being that God will praise you if you live like Christ (Col 1:27).

The common characteristic here seems to be that the gospel tells the story of Christ's life and how the way he lived pleased God, with the implication that if we live in the same way, doing good works, then God will praise us too.

What I don't really understand is why you'd use the term "gospel" for this...? It's not precisely "good news". On the other hand it's a message about God's son so I suppose it qualifies in that sense of the word. I imagine also the phrase originated with Jesus - the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and that its usage simply continued within the Christian tradition and over time evolving referents beyond its original extent.

9:27 am  

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